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Water Management Technologies for Sustainable Rice Cultivation Under Changing Climate

D. Roy
Irrigation and Water Management Division, Bangladesh Rice Research Institute

M. U. Ahmmed
Disaster Environment and Climate Change (DECC) Programme, BRAC

M. N. H. Mahmud
Irrigation and Water Management Division, Bangladesh Rice Research Institute

Abstract/ Executive Summary:

Climate change is becoming a major concern in Bangladesh agriculture day by day. Bangladesh is an agro based country and its agriculture is completely dependent on climatic situations. The abrupt distribution of rainfall, terminal drought occurrence, reduction of surface water flow, ground water depletion and salinity intrusion in coastal area are causing sever water scarcity during rice seasons. Due to water unavailability in Boro rice growing seasons, rice production decreases alarmingly and it is hampering the food security. By 2025, 15-20 million hectares of irrigated rice may suffer from water scarcity. Proper water management in rice cultivation using developed technologies can mitigate these problems and can ensure food security. Average 95% of conveyance loss of irrigation water during distribution can be saved by using flexible polythene pipe in Sallow Tube Well (STW). This can increase 45% command area and 50% irrigation time. Supplemental irrigation can mitigate terminal drought causes by abrupt rainfall during T. Aman season and can result 30% yield increasing. Rainwater harvesting by mini pond and levee management is an effective source of supplemental irrigation. Alternate wetting and drying (AWD) method is a water saving technology in Boro season, which can save 27% irrigation water, 40% fuel and can reduce irrigation cost by 15-20%. Average 35% water could be saved by direct seeded rice compared to transplanted rice during Boro season. In coastal areas, river water can be used for rice production from mid-November to mid-February as EC of river water remains less than 4 dS/m during this period. Pond water, ground water of deeper aquifer and conserved river water in polder are also found less saline and can be used for increasing Boro production area in coastal zone. Adaptation and dissemination of these technologies are necessary through agricultural extension services for sustainable rice cultivation in changing climatic situation.

Keywords: Water management, Technologies, Rice, Changing climate

Location: Kushtia district

Start Date: 00-01-2002

End Date: 00-12-2008

Program Area: Crop-Soil-Water Management

Non-commodity: Adoption and mitigation technology

Objectives:

1. The present review paper will focus on the adverse effects of climate change regarding water scarcity that are gradually creating negative impact on rice production of Bangladesh, and 2. Also available water management technologies will be discussed to mitigate climate change effects for sustainable rice cultivation.

Methodology:

In rice irrigation, more than 50% of the applied water is lost in the form of conveyance loss. The recent BRRI findings indicated that 95% of total conveyance loss (Table 1) can be minimized by adopting flexible polythene pipe (sometimes named as plastic pipe) distribution system of STW. Beside this it can reduce the irrigation time by about 50% resulted in reduced fuel, oil, irrigation cost, labour cost and also 45% command area can be increased by using flexible polythene pipe distribution system. Supplemental irrigation plays a vital role in alleviating drought impact especially in T. Aman rice. T. Aman rice generally always suffers drought of long or short spell at reproductive stage of crop. Water stress at the vegetative stage, yield loss occur about 25% and at reproductive stage, yield loss occurs as high as 50%. Therefore, supplemental irrigation is essential for good yield and it should be applied by any means from any source. The effect of drought spell on yield reduction is more at ripening phase (from flowering to dough stage) compared to at reproductive phase (from panicle initiation to before flowering). BRRI research results showed that one or two supplemental irrigation in proper time can increase T. Aman rice production by 30%. Alternate wetting and drying (AWD) is a water-saving technology that lowland (paddy) rice farmers can apply to reduce their water use in irrigated fields. Alternate wetting and drying (AWD) method is now a matured water saving technology to use irrigation water efficiently and economically during Boro season. 3000-5000 liter of water input is required in rice field to produce one kilogram of rice. It is also mentioned that Boro rice irrigation in Bangladesh entirely depends on groundwater and tube wells. Farmers have to pay 30% of rice output for irrigation. The number of days of non-flooded soil in AWD between irrigations can vary from 1 day to more than 10 days. A practical way to implement AWD is to monitor the depth of ponded water on the field using a ‘field water tube’. After irrigation, the depth of ponded water will gradually decrease. When the ponded water has dropped to 15 cm below the surface of the soil, irrigation should be applied to re-flood the field with 5-7 cm of ponded water. Fifteen days after transplanting, AWD method can be started and continued till one week before flowering. The water tubes were placed in a relatively flat part of the field close to the bund to monitor ponded water depth easily. From one week before to one week after flowering, ponded water should always be kept at 5 cm depth. After flowering, during grain filling and ripening, the water level can drop again to 15 cm below the surface before re-irrigation. The threshold of 15 cm water depth (below the surface) before irrigation is called ‘Safe AWD” as this will not cause any yield decline. Research results of one of BRRI research sites are presented in Table 3, Table 4 and Table 5 regarding water saving, fuel saving and irrigation cost reduction, respectively. The study was conducted between 2008 and 2009. AWD practice saved 27% irrigation water. Also it saved 43-47% fuel and 15-20% irrigation cost.

Source of Information: Journal of Agricultural Engineering, The Institution of Engineers, Bangladesh, Vol. 41/AE Number 1, June, 2014

Article Link (Online Journal):

Funding Source:

Total Budget (Tk.) :

Achievement/Findings:

95% of irrigation water when distributed by using flexible polythene pipe and the savings can increase irrigation command area by 45%. Supplemental irrigation is an efficient way to recover drought occurrences. T. Aman production can be increased by 30% with supplemental irrigation application. During T. Aman season, when irrigation pumps are not available in crop fields, rainwater storing by minipond and levee management can be a good source of supplemental irrigation water. Field practices showed that AWD method could save 27% irrigation water, 40% fuel and this method could effectively reduce irrigation cost by 15-20%. Direct seeding method is an opportunity to save water (about 35% over transplanting method) especially in water scare areas.

Knowledge Management: Journal